So I just installed AE today and so my friend and i shot some test footage to edit but when I import it into the program and try to play it or preview it the audio is all mashed up and in the wrong place. When i press preview it plays the video all the way through but it pulls a piece of audio from the middle and mashes it up from there. Anyone ever run into similar a similar problem? Any help is much appreciated thanks.

AE is not suited for editing or really even for ingesting footage. You probably are shooting a highly compressed format. You should bring your footage into Premiere, using its capture functions, and then export it to a more suitable frame-based codec before attempting to use your footage in After Effects.

After Effects is not the kind of application you use for a couple of tricks and expect things to turn out right the first time. It takes a good knowledge of the AE basics to make it do what you want. Hence that second link.